Insult to Maidique
As a Latino Florida International University alumnus, I’m amazed and disappointed by FIU’s Board of Trustees, which is considering removing the previous president’s name from the main campus.
Modesto Maidique is the main person responsible for elevating FIU to what it is today. It is only natural for someone who has dedicated many years to the advancement of FIU to speak his mind when he sees the university taking steps that are detrimental to its continued advancement.
Since 2009, FIU has been the only public university in Florida that keeps lowering standards and takes pride in it: from the requirements of specific colleges to the general admissions process. It uses the pretext that it has a responsibility to the community.
Maidique is bringing some constructive criticism, but instead of listening, board members want to punish him because they did not agree with his recommendations.
Trustees should be ashamed of themselves. Obviously, they lack the capacity to develop a great and respected university, something Maidique championed.
FIU students and alumni should not let the Board of Trustees derail our promising university to a path of mediocrity; it is an insult to all of them and the community.
– Renzo Reategui, Sunrise
HONOR FIU FOUNDER
If any name should be put on the treasure that is Florida International University, it is that of Charles “Chuck” Perry, FIU’s founding president.
At 31 years old, Perry was the youngest president in the history of the State University System and, at the time, the youngest university president in the country.
While I respect what subsequent presidents have contributed to the growth of FIU, naming the university after Perry will put to rest this constant bickering over the name. I firmly believe that naming of buildings should always be named after the person has died. – Susan R. Weitz,
Miami Beach
A HOUSE DIVIDED
In the Aug. 22 letter “Dolfans No More,” the writer accuses kneeling Miami Dolphin players of “dividing our community.” No, the community was already divided. The players’ minimally irreverent act just brought the division into the light of day.
On one side of the divide are those who get annoyed every time someone, especially a black person, complains about how in America injustices against blacks continue to be perpetrated. On the other side are people who feel pride in America, and in being an American, anytime anyone engages in a peaceful public protest against a perceived injustice, even if it causes inconvenience or discomfort.
What really causes community division is anything that emboldens ideas of white or black supbremacy. – Daniel R. Collins,
Hollywood
REAL PRESS FREEDOM
As I read Patti Davis’ Aug. 16 op-ed, “My father, President Ronald Reagan, respected the press and its rights,” I concluded that, although she was chiding President Trump, her main concern was for the freedom of the press to report news, fairly and honestly, without being controlled by any political philosophy or party.
If that was what she was saying, I completely agree. Our nation’s devotion to freedom of the press assumes that news will be delivered without bias or editorializing, and that the editorial staff and pages will give us opinions and political positions.
The news would be factual reporting, free of the opinions and political positions. It would not be controlled by outside forces.
Unfortunately, a large portion of the news disseminated by the mainstream media is influenced by these outside forces and do not provide us with a truly free press.
Often, the media report one side of an issue, ignore the other side or fail to report an issue at all if the controlling influencer opposes it.
I hope that Davis was espousing a press that is really free of any and all outside influences.
– I.C. Griffith, Jr., Miami
NO SUCH LUCK
Sarah Huckabee Sanders used the recent killing of a young woman allegedly by an illegal immigrant as evidence to support President Trump’s anti-immigration policies. If the administration has facts to support such policies, it should share them. It also needs to apologize to the poor woman’s family for sensationalizing their misfortune.
– Scott Shampaner,
Coral Springs
MICHAEL D. COHEN DECIDED LAST WEEK TO PLEAD GUILTY TO A HOST OF FINANCIAL CRIMES SHORTLY AFTER RUDY GIULIANI OFFERED TO BE HIS LAWYER ON A PRO-BONO BASIS, GIULIANI CONFIRMED.
WISE WORDS
What Churchill once said about Hitler and the Nazis might apply to the corrupt Trump administration: “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end, but it is perhaps the end of the beginning.”
– Fred Wolfe, Cooper City